Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Blue Dog Marketing! 

Wishing you and your family a wonderful day filled with great food and warm memories.

Marketing Video Content Ideas

You’ve decided to add videos to your marketing plan for 2015. Great idea! Now, what should your videos be about? If you’ve looked at YouTube, there millions of videos out there, some are getting looked at, while others are just sitting there. There are certain kinds of business videos that will generally fair better as opposed to others.

So what are your options?

Subject Matter Videos

Display your skills and establish yourself as a subject matter expert. Offer industry specific information for free. Show why your company possesses the knowledge other competitors do not. Publish seminars, webinars or training sessions that you have delivered.

Tutorials

Tutorials videos are extremely popular. Sharing content is always a good content marketing choice. Some people learn better by being shown “how-to.”

Reviews

A big niche on YouTube is reviews. Reviews are especially useful for retailers or direct manufactures. There are many famous reviewers on YouTube that retailers and manufacturers give out products to, knowing that their validation can help boost sales.

Testimonials

Similar to reviews, testimonials are actual satisfied customers telling the viewer how your product or service solved a problem they had. Ask your best customers to be in a video; it helps them promote their business too.

Better Blogging for Business

Blogging is one of the most popular and successful online activities for small business owners. Blogging about your industry, products and services establishes you as a thought leader and industry expert.

How can you achieve that status with your customers and potential customers? Here are some steps to help you blog better for your business.

Understand What Your Target Readership Needs and Wants

The most essential part of successful blogging is understanding the needs and motivations of your readers and potential followers. Don't be afraid to be yourself and to “speak in an authentic voice. This will ensure that your voice is heard. By being somebody who people feel they want to get to know, your business will grow.

Reader Engagement

If used correctly, social media is about solving people's problems. You are providing answers to questions they have. When your readers comment on a post, comment back. Engage them in a “conversation.” That’s the ‘social’ part of social media.

Comment on Other Blogs

An effective way of promoting your blog is to visit other blogs and websites and comment on them. Don’t just leave backlinks to your own blog or website, actually participate in a conversation.

It’s All About the Content

Content is king. The higher the quality of your blog content, the higher your business will appear in the search engine results. When writing your content, make sure that you use your keywords. 

Client in the Spotlight: BRIC Training – Building Relationships Improving Communication

Don Boice, president and lead trainer at BRIC Training, earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania and is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker and works as a marriage and family counselor.

Don also has a background in training. He very effectively uses the listening skills he developed as a counselor to listen to the needs of his business clients and bring training workshops to New York State businesses.

BRIC Training works with businesses to identify which training areas would create maximum benefit. Don’s training is always tailored to the workplace culture and company’s needs and can be valued as an additional benefit for employees.

Don’s workshops include Sexual Harassment Training & Prevention, Listening, Gender, Facing Fears and Attitudes. BRIC Training’s goal is to engage audiences in important discussions while teaching the best practices needed to position companies for increased productivity, interpersonal success and decreased liability. BRIC Training is based in New York and training sessions are held at the company’s site.

For additional information about Don Boice and BRIC Training, visit www.brictraining.com or call 585-802-1273. 

5 Tips for Creating A Successful Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy

How do you create a unified marketing communications approach? Here are five steps to help you design you own unique approach.

Create a budget

Budgeting appropriately plays a critical role in overall success of your marketing communications plan. Identify the funds you have available and stick to your budget. Having a budget in place first, will allow you to determine which paid marketing tactics you will use.

Know your target market

You can’t possibly market successfully to your potential customers if you don't know everything about them. Do your research on your target market.

Assemble your brand data

Do you have a firm grasp on your business’ specific brand identity? Compile all of your brand data. Your slogan (or tagline), the graphics you use, your color schemes and any other critical details should all be evaluated to determine exactly what your business brand is about. Brainstorm with your team to create the message about your brand that you will send out.

Plan your tactics

An effective integrated marketing communication strategy includes a wide range of tools and resources. Outline the tactics that best resonate with your company's goals and objectives. What tactics will your small business employ to get communicate your message? You website should be the first place you start. You can also add online and print ads, trade shows and social media to your tactical plan. These are just some of the many ways that you can deliver a cohesive brand image to your potential customers.

Analyze your results

Quarterly, look at how your plan is working. If you're not achieving the results you were hoping for, it may be necessary to alter your strategy. 

Are You Integrating Your Marketing Communications?

In today’s fast-paced internet-based business world, small business owners understand that marketing success relies on far more than a single promotional premise. Instead of managing two, or more, marketing tactic as distinct entities, small businesses need to embrace an integrated marketing communication strategy.

This strategy effectively incorporates all of your business' advertising approaches together for a seamless, cohesive final advertising solution.

The benefits of an effective integrated marketing communication strategy are extensive. You can strengthen your brand identity by making all your promotional materials uniform and consistent. This consistent branding helps reinforce your business’ legitimacy. The more your customers your brand, the better they will feel that they know your organization. Ultimately, this creates a unified advertising message can play a critical role in strengthening relationships with prospective customers as well as enhancing loyalty with your existing customers.

In our next blog post, we’ll outline five tips for creating an effective marketing communications plan. Stay tuned!

Why small firms can use a blog....article in the 11/9/14 Democrat & Chronicle

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle published an article I wrote about blogging in today's business section. So proud to have been asked by the D&C to write this column.

Enos: Why small businesses needs a blog

Laurie Enos, Guest essayist12:04 a.m. EST November 5, 2014

Blogging has become one of the most popular tools used to market a company. If you are a small business that does not have a blog, here are some statistics published by Social Media Today that will convince you to use a blog to market and grow your small business:

• Small Businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads.

• 61 percent of U.S. consumers have purchased products and services based on blog posts.

• 70 percent of consumers learn about a company through articles.

These statistics prove that blogs can be great resources for marketing your products and services, lead generation and sales. A blog can also help small businesses become recognized as an expert in their field, help to increase brand awareness and gain online recognition.

If you're thinking about starting a blog, not thinking and just do it. Here are four ways to use a blog to market your company:

Share your knowledge: You are the expert in your field. You live it every day. So why not write about what you know? Start by giving your customers ideas and helpful hints. Be sure to keep up to date about industry trends, which can help provide a constant stream of ideas and help avoid writer's block. Blogging on these things will help position you as an expert in the field.

Answer questions from readers: Blog readers love to start discussions with authors and fellow readers, especially when they have become attached to a small business blog. To keep readers engaged, reply to comments as quickly as possible. If not, it could quickly lead to a decline in readership, interaction from readers or result in slow growth of the blog. Comment forms, social media connections and email are all great ways to stay in touch with readers.

Promotions and deals: A great way to get the word out about special deals or promotions is to blog about them. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are other ways to spread the way about promotions.

Once the blog is names and built, be sure to promote it. Add a link to the blog from your website so visitors can view posts. Also, include a link to the blog in your email signature, post it to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Be sure to add the blog's web address to printed marketing materials.

While there are plenty of ways to market a small business on a very minimal budget, blogging is one of the most effective and low cost ways to do so. Get started blogging today.

This week's Nextpert

Laurie Enos is the president of Blue Dog Marketing.

3 Ways to Market Your Company Online

Online Marketing is a powerful tool that small business owners are using to promote and brand their products and services. However, to successfully market your products and services, you must get noticed by search engines and other sites. Here are three different ways to do so:

Use the proper keywords in your website 

You want your potential customers to find you online. Use the words and terms that they would use when searching online for a business like yours. This helps search engines place your site in the correct category and people to find you when searching the appropriate keywords to match yours.

Social Media Marketing: 

Social media sites are those where people socialize and websites become a social dialogue site. An extremely popular example would be Facebook. There are many other popular sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Digg and Four Square. Creating a site for small business on one, or more, of these social sites opens a new market for you. You can communicate in a different way than on your website with your customers and potential customers. You also help your search engine ranking rise by being visible and active on social media sites.

Blogs and Articles

Write blogs and articles about your industry, services, or products. Make sure your blog is attached to your website as this helps search engines to find your site and moves it higher in search results. Blogging establishes you as an authority in your field with your customers and potential customers. 

Blogging Can Boost Your Marketing

Have you decided to start blogging because everyone else is doing it? Blogging has become a very popular and you’re right to want a blog for your small business.

Now is the time of year that businesses are planning for next year’s budget and marketing. Adding blogging to your marketing plan for 2015 is a great idea.

So, how do you actually take advantage of a blog for your business?

Commit To a Schedule

First, you need to schedule time to plan your blog topics and write your blogs. Next, decide how often you want to blog and stick to that schedule. Nothing is worse for a business than having out of date information posted online. Potential customers will wonder if you’re out of date on everything in your industry. So, pick a frequency that you can stick to and keep your blog current or remove it.

Readers will come back to your blog, expecting to see new material. Once you are in a routine, it will be easy and your visitors will be coming back for more.

Stay Informed on What’s Happening in Your Industry

The best way to make sure you have something to write about is to keep informed about your industry. This will help you avoid “writer’s block Also, you will be viewed as an expert in your field and readers will turn to you for information and tips.

Give Value

Blogging is about building yourself as an expert as well as establishing trust and rapport with your readers. Your blogs must answer the common questions your readers may have that relate to your field. By answering these questions, you’re providing value to your audience. They will come back to read more of your posts.

Promote Your Blog

Once you have created your blog, be sure to promote it. Link your blog to your website, so your website visitors can read your posts. Add a link to your blog to your email signature. Post your blog posts on Facebook and LinkedIn. You can tweet about your blog too. Don’t forget to add the blog address to your marketing materials.

Keep at It

It takes time to grow your blog readership. By sticking to these tips you will see results.